"We knew what was happening, but the Americans preferred to find excuses"

Senior Foreign Ministry officials say their conversations with their Washington counterparts have focused on what Jerusalem terms “radicalizing trends” against not only Israel but also against the United States and the West in general…

“The Americans were constantly trying to supply explanations and excuses for events in the post-revolution Arab states, and simply ignored the problems,” one senior Israeli official said, adding, “In practice the administration’s ability to affect events in the Arab world has decreased immensely.”…

The Foreign Ministry conducted its own examination and determined that many male ambassadors from the previous regime had not been recalled. “We knew what was happening, but the Americans preferred to find excuses,” said the senior official.

A similar pattern emerged as to Israeli efforts to prevent a clause being added to the new Tunisian constitution outlawing normalization or contacts with Israel. The Foreign Ministry asked the United States to intervene, but was not satisfied by the response. “They told us, ‘Don’t worry, it’s going to be all right, the clause will be left out,’ but the clause is still in there,” the official said.